oDoc At Work Aims to Improve Heathcare At Your Workplace

Falling sick is not something that we’re not particularly fond of. Thankfully, oDoc has been quite helpful in these situations. In case you didn’t already know oDoc is a video medical consultation platform launched in Sri Lanka. We saw them first at Disrupt Asia 2017 where they officially launched their service. Recently, the platform also expanded into oDoc at Work.

How does oDoc work?

By means of a mobile app for either Android or iOS, users can communicate with doctors immediately via a video call. The doctors on the oDoc platform are SLMC registered and can provide advice and even give prescriptions as well. This means that you spend less time stuck in traffic and also less time in hospital waiting rooms.

In case you need medication, you can purchase it and then have it delivered to your doorstep. Currently oDoc has over 180 GP’s and specialists enrolled on the platform. Further, all doctors on oDoc are equipped with a dedicated application to manage oDoc consultations and issue prescriptions. oDoc has also installed kiosks at Crescat Boulevard and at a number of leading pharmacies as well. So you can just go up to the kiosk, have a doctor diagnose your condition and proceed to get a prescription as well.

Introducing oDoc at Work

oDoc’s next stage in the platform is aimed at corporate subscriptions. As such, they have introduced an employee healthcare solution for businesses. Called oDoc at Work, organizations can now offer their employees unlimited fully paid doctor consultations from anywhere, including at corporate and factory sick rooms.

“We want this to complement traditional forms of employee health coverage, which usually covers just a limited number of OPD visits. In essence, this is unlimited OPD cover for your employees,” says the company’s CEO and Co-Founder Heshan Fernando. “With oDoc, your employees will not only have instant access to GPs, but also to specialists, including pediatricians, gynecologists, cardiologists, and dermatologists.”

How would oDoc at Work function?

Each sick room of companies that sign up for the platform would be equipped with a pre-loaded tablet. So staff members can walk in and talk to a doctor. From there, they can get 24/7 advice and even a prescription if required.

Thus far, over 15 companies have currently signed on to the service. These include corporates such as MAS and Brandix and AIA, which is a multinational insurance provider. But it’s not just the large corporates. Faiz Brothers, a Pettah based hardware supplier, now offers all its 15 staff members unlimited consultations through oDoc.

Faiz Brothers, a store in Pettah carrying out a session with oDoc at Work (Image Credits: LimeLight/oDoc

The oDoc at Work feature allows employers to provide their employees with unlimited access to the oDoc platform. Optionally, employees can also use the platform for their immediate family as well. In terms of subscriptions, a regular oDoc subscription is free for the first time and then LKR 499/- per subscription. oDoc at Work also operates on a subscription basis. These subscriptions start at LKR 25 per employee per month and go up to LKR 149 per employee.

Each sick room of companies would be equipped with a pre-loaded tablet which can be used to consult a doctor via video

One area that stood out for the team was improving both the cost and quality of healthcare for non-executive staff, especially in the manufacturing sector. While factories, for example, have a sick room with a nurse at all times, a qualified doctor comes in only for a few hours each week. This, in turn, means that there is a fairly long queue to consult the doctor. Furthermore, sourcing a doctor is also not a cost-effective solution.

Overall, oDoc’s venture into corporate subscriptions has some interesting aspects to it. It promises to offer improved health care services for employees, which in turn would lead to better productivity. Hopefully, more organizations would see the potential in oDoc at Work and implement it for their workplaces as well. After all, better healthcare would mean more work getting done.